If the Superheroes can do it, so can YOU!

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Cloud in a Jar

Want an EASY and FUN way to demonstrate how clouds and rain are related? Try this experiment with just a few ingredients that I’m sure you have at home!

Here’s what you need to get started:

Shaving cream

1 jar filled halfway with water

Empty cups for colored water

Food coloring

Eyedroppers and syringes (we used the ones we have collected over the years that the pharmacies give us and never use)

Fill the glass halfway with water and add a shaving cream “cloud” on top. Be sure the shaving cream completely covers the water.

Using the food coloring, make as many cups of colored water as you want. We used the primary colors to create the 6 rainbow colors.

Using the droppers and syringes, I let the superheroes add colored water to their “clouds”.

When the “cloud” was full, the colors started “raining” down into the water. My older superhero claimed he was creating a “storm”!

Eventually they added so much water that the shaving cream overflowed out of the jars. They wanted to do it again and so we repeated it several times. I swear this kept them busy for over an hour!

The Science behind the Activity:

The shaving cream acts as the cloud and when it gets saturated with water, it seeps through. Using the colors, you can actually see it “rain” just as real clouds send rain down when they get full of moisture.

Follow this link to see where I got the idea from and more details about the experiment: http://www.teachpreschool.org/2012/03/clouds-in-jars-and-on-the-table-top-too/